


i heard his eyes are wicked blue

by sarahcakes613



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, M/M, Ties & Cravats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahcakes613/pseuds/sarahcakes613
Summary: Now that they're married, Sonny and Rafael work on getting to know each other.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67
Collections: Marriage Barisi Bingo





	i heard his eyes are wicked blue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Slightly Rearranged](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24275773) by [sarahcakes613](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahcakes613/pseuds/sarahcakes613). 



> I wasn't planning on coming back to this strange little handwavey magic AU but y'all loved it and so did I! 
> 
> Thanks as ever to @blue_spaces for the idea bouncing and to Juli for giving me the truest colour of Sonny's eyes!!!

The day Sonny and Rafael marry, there is a power outage in New York City. It happens at 5:17pm and affects homes in a one-square-mile radius around Holy Rosary Church. Their first kiss as husbands also happens at 5:17pm, but that’s just a coincidence.

A sigh sweeps through the nave as everyone, even those not directly connected to the mystical link, feels the settling weight of the knot that is tied between Rafael and Sonny, finally fulfilling the promise unknowingly made three generations ago by Rafael’s grandfather.

It’s been almost a year since they met, and they still don’t really know each other, not as much as two people getting married should. Sonny’s focus has been the police academy and Rafael’s has been getting assigned more first chair cases. He’s on his way to becoming the go-to for Brooklyn SVU, and it’s not a job that comes with a lot of downtime.

A week after their wedding, after a short honeymoon in the Catskills where their time was mostly spent getting acquainted on a physical level, they unlock the door of their new apartment and get to work unpacking it. There’s a hodgepodge of furniture, hand-me-downs from family rooms, boxes from Rafael’s apartment and Sonny’s bedroom at his parents house, and, for some reason, a cat who shows up as they’re waiting for their pizza to arrive that first night and simply refuses to leave.

It stares at Rafael when he tries to shoo her out the door.

They start a game that first night, over slices of pizza and warm beer, because no one involved in moving their furniture in for them had thought to check if the fridge was plugged in.

They take turns asking questions, everything from hopes and dreams to the most basic first date things that they still don’t know about each other. Sonny loves grape bubblegum but hates how fast it loses it’s flavour. Rafael’s favourite class in law school was Civil Rights Litigation, but he felt he could do more immediate good working as a prosecutor. Rafael loves Greek salad, but picks the black olives out. Sonny’s enjoying working at the 68th precinct, but he’s anxious to do whatever he can to move from beat cop to detective in the shortest amount of time possible.

The game is ongoing, no score is being kept. It’s played on coffee breaks, over dinner, as they unpack.

They’re unpacking in the bedroom when Rafael learns that Sonny has no concept of colour theory.

“Jeez, Rafael, you think you got enough ties?” Sonny jokes, drawing yet another hanger full of ties from a garment bag.

“I don’t like repeating ties during a case, it’s bad luck.” Rafael shrugs. They both know how long court cases can go sometimes.

“Sure,” Sonny agrees, “but d’you need so many that are all the same colour?”

Rafael stares at the hanger of ties Sonny is holding, and then at his husband.

“They’re not all the same colour. Not a single one of those is the same colour.” He takes the hanger from Sonny and starts flipping through them. “This one is baby blue, this one is ice blue, these two are both powder blue but see, this one has thin stripes and this one has white dots. Periwinkle with lilac stripes, morning blue with coral checks, this one is savoy blue, this one is ultramarine, this one is aquamarine – I don’t know why it’s in this bag, it should be with the greens.”

Sonny is staring at him, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

“That’s…they’re all just blue.” He says helplessly.

Sonny’s _Monaciello_ heritage is a boon to his work as a beat cop. He’s got a knack for picking up trails, and he works well with the K-9 units, but looking at him now, Rafael begins to wonder if he shares something else with the dedicated K-9 pawfficers, because the only acceptable explanation for Sonny’s statement is that he is colour blind.

“I mean, I see there’s a bit of difference, sure,” Sonny adds, “but they’re still all just like, light blue.”

“There’s a bit of…Sonny, that’s called shading. Those bits of difference make all the difference!”

Sonny shrugs. “If you say so, Rafi.”

Rafael stops and stares at his husband. “Rafi?”

Sonny flushes and bites his lip. “Yeah? I mean, I don’t gotta, I just. Thought it’d be cute if you had a nickname that matched mine.”

Rafael hates it, but the way Sonny is nibbling on his lip is distracting so he just hums.

“Why do you have so many blue ties, anyhow?” Sonny asks him, continuing to unpack hangers full of ties.

“What do you mean?” Rafael asks, looking over his entire collection. He’s been building it since he graduated from Harvard nearly a decade ago and there must be close to 200 ties now.

“You’ve got about a hanger, sometimes two, for each colour.” Sonny points out. “But you’ve got four hangers for your blue ones.”

“It’s my favourite colour.” Rafael lies.

The look Sonny gives him is singularly unimpressed. “No it isn’t. Whenever anyone asks you, you say it’s green, but it’s actually salmon.”

Damn their game, Rafael thinks. He hasn’t been paying close enough attention to what he’s been admitting to.

“Sit down, _cielito_.” He directs Sonny to the bed. Sonny perches on the edge, careful not to sit on any of the strewn about ties.

Rafael draws a handful of the blue ties off their hanger and drapes them over his arm. He stands between Sonny’s open legs and begins holding each one up to his husband’s face. Sonny turns, letting the silks and satins slip over his cheek, caressing his skin.

“I have so many blue ties,” Rafael confesses, “because I’m still trying to find the one that most perfectly matches your eyes.”

Sonny blinks. “My eyes?”

Rafael nods. “ _Celeste cielo_ , it’s the colour I see when I close my eyes and think of you. I open them and it’s gone, and I can’t capture it. If I can find the right tie, I’ll always have it with me.”

Sonny blinks again, and Rafael sees emotion welling up in them.

“I love you.” Sonny blurts out.

The lights flicker when he says it and Rafael’s breath catches in his lungs.

Sonny’s skin is turning a beautiful glowing shade of blush and Rafael is halfway tempted to bring out his pink and red ties to find one that matches.

Sonny stares at him and Rafael realizes he hasn’t said anything in response.

“Um.” He says. Does he love Sonny? Their marriage was magically mandated, their mutual attraction natural for two young men. Love never factored into it, but then, Rafael does have nearly 50 ties that are all just shy of Sonny’s eye colour and sure, he had boyfriends in college, but none of them ever inspired a single tie purchase.

The lights flicker again, and the cat lopes into the room and licks her paw while staring at Rafael.

“It’s okay if you don’t say it back.” Sonny offers with a small smile. “I know it’s a lot, given…everything.” He waves his hand as if to encompass their entire situation.

“I want to.” Rafael says, and he finds that it’s even true. “I just…haven’t, ever. I want to be sure I mean it.”

Sonny looks up at the flickering lights. “Something tells me we’ll know pretty quick.”

“I love you.” Rafael says it fast, like he needs to get it out before the sky falls in on them. The sky doesn’t fall in, but the power does go out in a one-square-mile radius around their apartment.

In the dark, Sonny’s eyes cast an ethereal glow that Rafael knows he’ll never find in a piece of fabric.


End file.
